Human nature, red in tooth and claw

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About Tess

Liverpool lass Tess is now settled in the far north of England where she roams the fells with a brolly, dreaming up new stories and startling the occasional sheep. You can follow her ramblings at her website, www.tessmakovesky.com.

Dull but necessary

Crash for cash

I was doing a little research the other day on the latest scam to hit the car insurance industry. Basically, gangs of criminals drive round looking for a likely target, get in front of them and then slam their brakes on for no apparent reason, causing the car behind to run into them. They then make false insurance claims for the damage, injuries they haven’t suffered, time off work, repairs, replacement car hire and pretty much anything they can think of, and are running away with thousands of pounds’ worth of profit on pretty much every fake accident.

The criminals claim it’s a victimless crime, but it’s costing the insurance companies millions, which they’re then passing on to the rest of us in the shape of higher premiums. And it’s hardly victimless for the poor innocent sods who drive the target cars. Especially as the gangs often seek out vulnerable drivers – the elderly, women with young children on the school run, anyone who will be less likely to argue, thump them on their collective hooters, or make an issue of the whole thing.

The latest variation on the ‘crash for cash’ scam is ‘flash for cash’, where a criminal flashes his headlights to let another driver go first, say at a junction, and then deliberately runs into them.

It all made alarming reading, and even if I can’t turn it into a story, I thought it was worth passing the information on for other drivers to be on their guard against.